Community Involvement
Why Get Involved? *Make friends *Give something back *Long, dark winter evenings *Learn / improve your Japanese Ways to Get Involved School / Office Community *JTEs Your JTEs may be a little hesitant to interact with you at first. Be patient. Look outside the English department as some of the other teachers’ English skills may surprise you. *Enkais Teachers’ parties are a great way to get to know your colleagues in an informal setting. *Omiyage Get into the omiyage culture. Everyone loves to share snacks. *English Club　You can organise fun and interesting activities through your school English Club, or just enjoy relaxed conversations with your students. *School Clubs Get involved with students outside their regular classes. Join or visit their clubs, support their sports teams and go to their concerts. *School English Notice Board The School English Notice board is a good way to interact with your students and let them know more about you. If your school doesn’t have one already, ask if you can start one. Local Community *Eikaiwas Eikaiwas, or conversation classes can help you make friends and get to know people in your local community. You may have inherited one from your predecessor but if not, don’t be afraid to ask about. There are always people interested in learning English conversation. Your students may range in age from 3 to 78! *Cultural Classes Check out what cultural classes are available at your local community centre, and take up a new Japanese hobby. Regular, organised activites are one of the best ways to meet (busy) Japanese people. *Clubs and Groups Seek out groups with similar interests: hiking groups, yoga clubs, soccer teams. Join a sports club, try a martial art or take up a new traditional Japanese hobby. *Local Multicultural networks Your local Multicultural network can introduce you to Japanese people and non-JET foreigners. They may offer trips, cultural classes like soba-making, as well as international exchange events. *Language Classes Join a Japanese language class. Improve your language skills and make friends. *Language exchanges Learn and practice your Japanese with a native speaker in a language exchange. All you need is a place to meet and a willing partner. *Publications If your Japanese skills are up to it, try writing for a local newspaper or magazine. *Festivals / Matsuri Your local matsuri is likely to be a unique and unusual evening of elaborate floats, matsuri stalls of delicious food, and traditional singing and dancing. Matsuri are a great way to introduce yourself to your neighbours and local community. Find out if you can help carry the floats, try dressing in yukata for the evening, or just chat to the owners at the matsuri stalls while sampling the local specialties. *Bars / Karaoke Don’t underestimate informal ways of getting to know local Japanese people in a relaxed setting. Prefectural *AJET Don’t forget about your JET Community. Come along to sports, social and charity events. If you want to get more involved and make a difference, stand for election in June next year. *Ishikawa Volunteers Ishikawa Volunteers is the name for Ishikawa AJET Charity volunteers. Contact Ishikawa AJET for more information about getting involved, come along to charity events such as fundraisers and Orphanage visits. *Festivals / Matsuri JETs in Ishikawa often travel to other towns for festivals, from Iburihashi’s fighting fish festival in the south, to the Fire and Violence festival in the Noto. Check http://www.hot-ishikawa.jp/f-lang/english/event/ for details of many Ishikawa festivals. * International Festivals Every year IFIE (see below) is involved in organising an International Festival. Foreigners living in Ishikawa, including many JETs, set up information booths about their home countries. It is a fun and interesting way to learn about other countries and to share information about your particular corner of the world with local Japanese people. *Ishikawa Foundation for International Exchange (IFIE) IFIE is situated in the Rifare Building in Kanazawa and organises and supports international exchange activities in Ishikawa. The CIRs who work there are always keen for JETs to give them proposals for new events in Ishikawa. National / International *Go Make A Difference (GoM.A.D.) GoM.A.D. is an international web-based organization founded by JETS in order to link volunteering with JET participants’ travels. As well as organising fundraising activities, GoM.A.D. also organises annual volunteering trips to countries like Thailand, India and the Philippines. http://www.go-mad.org *National AJET The Association of Japan Exchange and Teaching is an independent volunteer organization that promotes and supports JETs in Japan. They offer information and assistance to JETs as well as sponsoring special projects and organise conferences. Become a member of AJET online at http://ajet.net/profile/login.php. If you want to get more involved, every year JETs stand for election to the National AJET Council. *Penpal Schemes Start a penpal writing project with your students to students in another part of Japan or in another country. Some Tips from Current / Previous Ishikawa JETs *Broaden your horizons *Don't have fixed expectations *Attend AJET events *Make inquiries *Just say YES! Useful Contacts